The last album from Declan O’Rourke Chronicles of the Great Irish Famine received numerous awards and certainly made a lasting impression, it was covered in these pages by an album review, live review and interview. Now the Galway-based artist has announced his seventh album ‘Arrivals’, an emotionally rich album which is both personal and political, and which saw him turning, for the first time, to a producer in the form of singer songwriter and musician Paul Weller.
An interview on youtube which finds Declan O’Rourke sitting down with Pete Paphides and Paul Weller to discuss the album is quite amusing and their humble answers are quite telling of the respect they hold each other in.
It was recorded over six days at Black Barn studios in Surrey, with Weller producing (“he was there every moment, before, during and long after, discussing ideas about this and that, even down to the artwork. It was hugely impressive…”). In addition to production, Weller also adds his multi-instrumental abilities to the recordings, including some beautiful piano accompaniment.
The first offering from the album comes in the form of ‘The Harbour‘, and if anything is more telling of the relationship between Weller and O’Rourke, then it is in space that’s been left for O’Rourke’s voice and song to shine. “The more noise you add, the more you struggle to hear the space around you. That level of quietude has taken me a while to get in my recordings, but I think with Arrivals I have.”
As lead single ‘The Harbour’ reveals, O’Rourke is quite the storyteller, at first, the song feels like it’s about other individuals he has met: a lonely tiler…”I imagine he must get lonely, but if he does he keeps it all in jail, but when you’re guarding a prison, how do you choose what to bail”; and Peter, an older friend who sometimes helps him with his trees who “likes to talk about old girlfriends and the places that he’s been”. The video casts these brief recollections as a film playing in the cinema with O’Rourke the sole spectator, waiting, with a guitar in hand, for inspiration to strike. It’s then you realise the song is a rather a reflection on the life of the songwriter (according to the album notes it’s partly a tribute to Joni Mitchell). A life often spent alone, collecting thoughts and inspiration for songs before taking them on the road…and there’s a hope in his mind that he can one day live a quieter life reflected in the analogy of the fisherman who stays close to harbour, only taking what he needs.
There is a strong emotional tide at work here and it is suggested that Arrivals is his most intimate work to date – a suggestion heightened by O’Rourke’s admission that he has always been guided by family.
“It’s at the heart of everything for me,” he acknowledges. “I know situations for some people are different, but for myself, family is the well, the source. When all is said and done, your family and those around you are the most important things in the world.”
It is also suggested to be his most political and humanitarian. “We all feel very strongly about various aspects of what is happening in the world right now, and I don’t know if I ever managed to speak my mind well about them before. I am fascinated by the past, either in a nostalgic way or through seeing how history has unfolded and what has been revealed. These times are so engaging, compelling, however, that I’ve been pulled into the present. It just happened and I’m glad I let it through.”
Underlying all this however is a strong hint of a maturing artist, one more comfortable in sharing his thoughts…and some of that magic that makes him want to place that pen to paper in the first place.
“I would like to think my writing is just a reflection of where I am at any given time,” he reasons, “but I guess it’s possible you get better at engaging with yourself and figuring out what you really want to say. I’ve always enjoyed the company of older people and been attracted to the wisdom and philosophies that are the gifts of age. I’m also used to hearing people, particularly artists, say that as they get older, they care less about what other people think, and that you just say whatever you want. I’m only 44 now, but I’m really gravitating towards that mindset.”
Arrivals is released on February 5th 2021 via eastwest records. Pre-order: https://lnk.to/DOR-Arrivals
Photo Credit: Lawrence Watson